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Liv
“Fingerguns?Onlyyou,Liv.”Veralaughsandshakesherheadatme,herplatinumblondehaircascadinglikeawaterfalldownhershoulders.Ileanontothearmrestofthecouchandgroan,holdingthepillowovermyface.
“I’m such a dork.” The pillow muffles my voice.
“How did he react?” Vera pulls the pillow away from me.
I sigh and sit up. “After he saw me drowning in humiliation, he smiled and did it back?”
Her eyebrows climb her forehead and her eyes go wide. “Oh my God, that’s fucking adorable.”
“Yea...it was.” I can’t hide the dreamy quality of my voice as I stare off into space and recall every second of being with Luke.
She laughs. “Liv, I think you’ve found the one.”
“Don’t expect a wedding invitation soon,” I deadpan.
“I mean it, girl. He sounds like a dreamboat, AND he’s goofy too? You scored.”
I shrug and fail at hiding my smile.
She wiggles her eyebrows. “How many times did you check him out?”
I fling my forearm over my eyes as I lean back. “I lost count. He is so hot. Not looking would be a crime.” I sigh and sink further into the couch.
“Ugh, you lucky bitch. He seems super into you. I can’t believe he got you to go on a date.”
“It wasn’t a date.” I bring my arm to my side and glare at her.
She purses her lips. “Did he ask you out?”
“Technically.”
“Did you spend extra time with him?”
“Yea. Like forty minutes.”
“Did he pay?”
I slump onto the armrest. “Yes."
“Sounds like a date to me, and he’s already set up your next one. Winning!” She giggles when I smack her arm, but I laugh too. I can’t help but find truth in her words.
Vera is the opposite of me with men and dating. She hasn’t had a boyfriend since high school. After he broke her heart, she wasn’t interested in relationships anymore. She dates when the mood strikes and moves on when she’s gets annoyed with him or the next guy comes along. I don’t judge her for it. I even envy her sometimes. She’s so confident with the opposite sex. I’m surprised I got to the end of that forty minutes with Luke before I made a fool of myself with the awkward finger guns.
“Jeremy didn’t even make you freak out like this,” she says.
I sigh as I think back to what seems like ancient history. Jeremy and I met in college. He was throwing a frisbee with his friends and dove to catch it, landing in my lap. He broke his wrist in his attempt to shield me from his fall. It worked, but I felt horrible when his friends loaded him into a car to take him to the emergency room.
A few days later I was sitting in the same spot when a bouquet landed on my lap. I yelped in surprise, but a smile bloomed on my face when Jeremy sat next to me and introduced himself. He was charming, handsome, and what I thought was a good guy. But Vera is right. Jeremy worked hard to get me to go on a date. As charming as he was, I didn’t want the distraction from school. But he was relentless and wore me down, so I caved and agreed to the date. From there he swept me off my feet and kept me floating until I came crashing down to earth when I caught him cheating.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought him up,” Vera says, pulling me out of my memories.
I shake my head. “No, it’s ok. You can mention him. I don’t want to give him the power to make me uncomfortable anymore.”
She grins and shakes her head. “You’re a better woman than me.”
I scoff, and we both reach for our wine and shove handfuls of popcorn in our mouths.
“Don’t stress out so much. It will either work out with Luke, or it won’t. You know the warning signs now. What happened with Jeremy won’t happen again. You’re too smart for that. Just have fun with it.” Vera gives my arm a reassuring squeeze and I smile at her.
Maybe she’s right. Luke is fun, and I enjoy spending time with him. There’s no harm in that.
